team

Ford Ranger competes at Dakar

Xavier ‘Xevi’ Pons

Xavier ‘Xevi’ Pons drives a Ford Ranger in the 2016 Dakar Rally. The car is being run on the event through a joint project between DMAS South Racing and Esponsorama.

The 35-year-old Spaniard was born in the town of Vic, near Barcelona, and has been active at the top level of rallying since 2003. He has driven for the professional Citroën, Mitsubishi and Subaru teams in the past won seven WRC stages in his career and amassed 51 championship points.

Pons began his career racing on two wheels and won the 1998 Spanish enduro championship, before being chosen to compete at the International Six Days Enduro with the Spanish junior team. He was part of a triumphant Spanish team in 2000 before making the switch to rallying.

He claimed the 2002 Spanish Group N gravel title and finished second in the tarmac series the following year. In 2004, he competed in both the JWRC and PWRC, winning two rounds and finishing fourth in the latter series.

After making the switch to a World Rally Car in 2005 and tackling a full WRC programme, the Catalan signed for the Kronos Total Citroën team in 2006 and partnered Sébastien Loeb.

His best WRC results include five fourth-placed finishes in events as diverse as Spain, Turkey, Sardinia, Australia and New Zealand. He returned to the series in 2010 in the SWRC category and won events in Mexico and Jordan on his way to the Super 2000 World Rally Championship title.

Pons said: “The Dakar Rally is a great challenge. I began my career on two wheels competing in several enduro series, so I have a lot of good friends and former rivals, like Marc Coma, Nani Roma, Gerard Farres, Viladoms…competing in cross-country rallying.

“I heard many stories about the Dakar and, for me, is incredible to get this great opportunity with an experienced team as South Racing and driving the Ford Ranger. I head the challenge excited and with high motivation, but we have to keep calm. I have a lot of experience in rally, but this will be my first rally-raid race, so we’ll have to go step-by-step and then we’ll see what happens.

“I want to thank all the sponsors for their support, and particularly I want to say big thank you to Raúl Romero, because without him this dream would not come true. I hope to pay them back with a good result.”

Ricardo Torlaschi

The Argentinean Ricardo Torlaschi has been recruited to partner Xavier Pons in the 2016 Dakar Rally.

He raced with Adrian ‘Chino’ Yacopini and South Racing at last year’s event and finished 38th overall.

Born in Mendoza and now residing in Guaymallén, the 30-year-old also competed on the Dakar with fellow Argentinean Ricardo Martinez and has been a regular face on cross-country rallies in South America.

LATRACH VINAGRE JUAN PABLO

VEHICLE TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS info

VEHICLE TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Xavier Pons’s Ford Ranger will be run in the 2016 Dakar Rally through a joint project between DMAS South Racing and Esponsorama.

The Ford Ranger was originally designed and built by Neil Woolridge and his team at Neil Woolridge Motorsport (NWM), the South Africa-based operation that ran the two factory-backed cars in 2014 in conjunction with South Racing.

During 2015, the car underwent ongoing development during Dakar Series events and other South American rallies in a strategic partnership between South Racing and Chilean partner, DMAS Competicion.

The car features revised suspension, engine mapping and chassis improvements to the car that was raced by the Argentine driver Federico Villagra at the 2015 Dakar Rally.

Base Vehicle

Ford Ranger 4x4 Double Cab

Regulations

FIA / ASO T1

Engine

Ford Aluminum 5.0L-4V V8 with Twin Independent Variable Cam Timing

Engine Management

Magneti Marelli

Power

260 kW @ 4 500 r/min

Torque

560 Nm @ 4 100 r/min

Rev limit

5 500 r/min

Body

Full Composite

Suspension

Independent Front and Rear

Twin BOS Dampers/Wheel

Antiroll Bar Rear

Brakes

Brembo Water Cooled Rear

Brembo Air Cooled Front

Fuel Cell

500 litres

Gearbox

Sadev 6-Speed Sequential, permanent 4-wheel drive

Cabin

Air conditioned

Differential

LSD Unit Front and Rear

Steering

Sadev

Internal Electronics

GEMS

Driveline

GKN

Drive wheels

16-inch Evocorse rims fitted with 245/85-16 Michelin tyres

Top speed

170 km/h

Team Ford Racing key personnel

Neil Woolridge

Villagra’s Ford Ranger has been designed and built by Neil Woolridge and his team at Neil Woolridge Motorsport (NWM), the South Africa-based operation that ran the two factory-backed cars in 2014 in conjunction with South Racing.

While building vehicles for customer teams, the NWM outfit also ran two similar Ford Racing Rangers in the 2014 South African Cross Country Championship, claiming an impressive three wins and from seven events, along with two second places and a third.

Woolridge has had a long career in motorsport that started in 1980. He became the first South African to compete in the car category in the 1998 Dakar Rally, and finished a credible third in the T1 class on the 1999 event.

Scott Abraham

Scott Abraham, team principle of South Racing, will be in charge of event management logistical and servicing arrangements. He and his team are also responsible for ensuring that team members are fully briefed prepared and equipped and that each assistance vehicle and support truck is fitted with the correct equipment, spare parts and supplies.

Based near Frankfurt in Germany, the young, customer-driven team also has workshops in Portugal and is a partner on the Dakar project with Neil Woolridge Motorsport (NWM).

RAUL ROMERO

Esponsorama is the joint venture partner with South Racing in the Dakar project and is a company owned by Raul Romero.

The Spaniard began his career as a driver in the Spanish Championship and created his own racing team, Kerosene By Racing, in 1994. After winning a pair of championship titles in Spain, he made the leap to MotoGP in 1999. Two years later, his team earned a place in the championship, competing in the 125cc and 250cc categories.

The team was part of Moto2 in 2009 and competed in the first year of the new category in 2010. In 2012, the team debuted in the main MotoGP category, after forming a partnership with the Avintia Group.

In 2015, Avintia Racing earned the title in the MotoGP Open class with Héctor Barberá and Mike di Meglio using Ducati Desmosedici GP14 motorcycles.

The South Racing / Neil Woolridge Motorsport crew behind the 2015 Dakar Rally campaign with the Ford Ranger represents vast experience in cross country racing, both on the Dakar Rally and in the domestic and international motorsport arenas.